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Keep up pressure for voters' rights

Disappointing ruling could be fixed with new formula

By Erika Stutzman

Posted:
06/26/2013 06:48:22 AM MDT

Updated:
06/26/2013 06:49:29 AM MDT

"T he sad irony of today's decision lies in its utter failure to grasp why the VRA has proven effective. ... Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet." -- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, for the minority dissent.

In a 5-4 vote Tuesday, the Supreme Court knocked out a key provision of one of the most important civil rights laws in America. The justices held that the Voting Rights Act relies on 40-year-old data that is not reflective of society's progress, and struck down the component that gives federal oversight over areas with a history of blocking citizens' constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.

The White House signaled its disappointment.

President Barack Obama echoed the Supreme Court's majority ruling that it's now up to Congress to re-establish rules that will keep groups of powerful people from disenfranchising voters.

"While today's decision is a setback, it doesn't represent the end of our efforts to end voting discrimination," Obama said. "I am calling on Congress to pass legislation to ensure every American has equal access to the polls."

But we have scant hope that that will happen anytime soon.

As we've seen recently with the celebrity chef Paula Deen's scandal, race is still an incendiary topic in this country. Anyone who claims that we're in a post-racial America because Obama is black, or because percentages of minority voters have grown in certain areas, is dead wrong.

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A television personality failing to get a contract renewal for whatever reason happens all the time. The firestorm from supporters demanding her reinstatement was more illuminating.

Fans tweeted that she "spoke the truth." By the thousands, they claimed it's just "political correctness" that defines the N-word as screamingly offensive, or suggests a plantation-style wedding with slave-like servers would be racist. Really? Race remains a tinder box, for much of the country. Congress, at least today, doesn't seem equipped to deal with it.

But they have. Congress has always reliably renewed the act, most recently in 2006. To keep it effective, and to protect everyone's right to vote, they need to dig down, work together, and build a formulaic change. Americans should demand nothing less.

If our elected leaders want to regain the trust of the American people, they should stop with their silly sideshows -- whee! Let's repeal Obamacare again! -- and tackle important policies that give regular Americans fair access to their basic rights. The Voting Rights Act is one.

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